"You can't say Mr. Schue."
"Why not?" Santana protested, pausing briefly from painting her nails to look up at Brittany.
From her spot at the head of the bed, Brittany explained with a shrug, "That's too easy! It has to be one of the glee kids."
"Okay, fine. If I had to kill one of the glee kids… it would definitely be Rachel."
"Really?" Brittany scrunched her nose at the unexpected answer.
Santana blew on her newly red nails before answering. "That surprises you? She annoys you just as much as she annoys me."
"Yeah, but I thought you would say Finn."
"Well, he would definitely be next on the list. Here, paint my left hand for me." Brittany grabbed the nail polish and the extended hand before Santana continued. "He may be a useless, blubbery mass but at least he doesn't hog songs."
"But you've totally been getting more songs lately. And Rachel doesn't even fight as much to get every solo like she used to. And Finn…" Brittany pursed her lips and focused on painting the nail on Santana's ring finger rather than looking at her face.
"What?" Santana quietly urged her to finish.
Brittany gave up finishing her nails and put the cap back on the nail polish before reaching to gently cradle Santana's left hand again. Brittany reluctantly met her eyes. "After everything?"
She said it so quietly; Santana could sense that Brittany was afraid bringing up the subject would break her all over again.
"Yeah, well I'm over that." She really was, for the most part. But more than anything, she wanted Brittany to believe it. "And he did apologize in this own horrible, horrible way so whatever." Santana half shrugged, hoping that settled the matter.
Brittany's piercing look told her otherwise. Santana had to look down at their intertwined hands. She noticed some of the red from her unfinished nails was now smeared into Brittany's palm.
"I guess… sometimes I can't believe you forgave him so fast." Santana raised her head in time to catch Brittany's half smirk. "Sometimes, I still want to sic Lord T on his face."
Brittany's smirk widened into a grin when Santana laughed.
When Santana's laughter died down, Brittany's jaw hardened as she continued. "I was just so mad, you know? And not even just at Finn. At all of them." Brittany looked back down and squeezed Santana's hand, the red polish smearing further.
Her voice started to crack. "It's like you were screaming for everyone to just stop, but they ignored you and kept pushing anyway."
"I know. But they meant well. They just don't get it like you do."
"Still."
"You wanna know why I forgave him so quickly? And why I let everyone throw me a shoving out of the closet party?" Santana waited until Brittany met her eyes to continue.
"Why?"
"Because I kept thinking about everything you told me last year. And I was just so tired of fighting everything. And not letting myself be happy. I kept thinking about all the things we could do together without the hiding. Even though I was still terrified of the consequences, it was the first time I really started thinking about the possibilities. All the good things that could happen. Anything's possible, right?"
Brittany cupped Santana's cheek with her free hand.
"I'm just so proud of you. I want you to know that. And I want you to know that everything you've accomplished this year, you totally did yourself. Not because of them. They're dumb."
Santana felt warmth overwhelm her, and decided the only way she could survive it was if she could kiss Brittany.
She pulled back with teary eyes and wrapped her arms around Brittany's neck. "Thank you for being there. And for always wanting to protect me from stupid people. I couldn't have made it through everything without you."
Brittany shook her head. "You're totally stronger then you think. But you're welcome, anyway." Brittany pulled Santana down to lie on top of her and switched to her thug voice before continuing with a smirk. "That how we do. I gotsta protect my shawty."
Santana laughed and kissed her nose, laughing even harder when Brittany scrunched it in protest.
After settling her head on Brittany's shoulder Santana murmured, "You're my favorite."
"I love you, too," Brittany replied with a kiss to her temple.
A few moments passed before Brittany broke the silence.
"And I'd totally kill the whole Glee Club for you."
"I know."